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News

County IT Project To Save Money, Improve Efficiency

York County Commissioners Steve Chronister, Doug Hoke and Chris Reilly today announced the launch of a three-year technology project meant to reduce taxpayer costs and drive employee efficiency.

The project calls for the consolidation of computer servers in the Human Services, Administrative and Judicial centers. The servers house programs and files used by County staff.

The first phase of the project, expected to be complete by mid-January, will reduce the number of servers in the Human Services Center from 22 to 3. It will generate an estimated $156,000 in savings over 10 years.

The County in 2015 and 2016 is planning to consolidate servers in the Administrative and Judicial Centers, respectively. The Administrative Center consolidation is expected to save approximately $76,000 over 10 years. Estimates are under development for savings at the Judicial Center.

The consolidations are possible through a process called virtualization, which allows one server to run numerous programs instead of having a single dedicated server for each application.

Savings and efficiencies gained include: • Reduced maintenance costs: Fewer pieces of equipment means less time and money devoted to hardware repairs and software updates. • Improved energy efficiency: The project will reduce electricity consumption needed to power the servers and cool the room where they are housed.• Improved employee computer speed: The overhaul will improve the speed at which employees can access information due to real-time management of server resources. IT staff can make more resources available to accommodate peaks in demand for specific applications. • Improved redundancy: Employees should not experience downtime when a servers encounters technical problems or must undergo maintenance. All programs and files will remain accessible via backups on other servers in each building.